"Pretty much, " Olli Jokinen said. "Early in my career, especially when I was in Florida, my book would say, ‘Oh, he scores goals and that's all he cares about.' "

The Winnipeg Jets, though, are going to see the new-and-improved Jokinen, the Finn vows.

The one who was turned into a dependable two-way centre by Calgary Flames head coach Brent Sutter the last two years.

The one who now firmly believes in defence, first, that everything else will follow if you just take care of your own end.

And the one ready to take on a leadership role with a Jets team still a little green around the tail fins.

Even if that leadership role means kicking some butt.

"Absolutely," Jokinen said. "You have to be honest for yourself. And sometimes you have to be honest for your teammates, too. Sometimes the truth hurts."

The Jets first sizable strike in the NHL free agent pond, Jokinen, 34, says his mindset has definitely changed since he put up four 30-plus goal seasons in five years, between 2002-08.

And he plans to drill that into a Jets team that leaked like a sieve last year.

"That was one problem here, I guess: goals against was way too high," he said. "Especially this year, every game's going to be huge. You have to have that mindset that you win games 1-0, 2-1. You've got to play good defence. The best way to get the message across is to lead by example."

If that doesn't work, you might have to get in someone's face.

"You're not going to win the Stanley Cup just having 20 nice guys in the room," Jokinen said. "It's not like you have to be the biggest a--hole or anything. But if you do the same mistakes over and over again, it's not about the skill, it's the mindset the player has. This game is more mental than anything else.

"And you can pass the message around, how big every minute is when you get on the ice."

Jokinen managed 40 goals, combined, playing a more defensive role over the last two seasons in Calgary.

"You want to win," Jokinen said. "You don't want to be the guy who gets scored against in the last minute of the game."